TWO people have been seriously injured in crashes on Dorset’s roads.

A 67-year-old woman from Weymouth suffered life-threatening injuries after her car collided with a post yesterday morning and a man from Poole suffered life-changing injuries when his van left the road and hit a tree in an early morning crash.

Dorset Police closed Commercial Road in Weymouth town centre yesterday for four hours following the collision at 10.30am by Harbourside car park.

Closures were also put in place at the junction with Westham Road and at Lower St Alban Street on the harbourside.

Five police cars, one van, an ambulance and the air ambulance attended the collision – landing by the slipway on the harbourside.

Officers said the woman’s injuries are ‘life-threatening’. She was airlifted to the Major Trauma Unit at Southampton General Hospital.

An ambulance service spokesman said it is believed the woman’s car, a Rover, hit a post along Commercial Road.

He said: “She’s got a lower leg injury. It’s quite a deep cut and she has head injuries as well.”

Eyewitnesses said a black saloon car had mounted the pavement near the entrance to the car park.

A witness, who did not wish to be named, said: “It looks as though the woman has lost control of the car, panicked and tried to jump out and her leg has been caught.

“She also sustained head injuries.”

He said he believed the car had been in the car park when the incident happened.

He added: “It looks like the car was parked in the car park, the driver put it in reverse and lost control.

“The car did a complete U-turn and ended up stopped facing outwards in the middle of the road.

“It couldn’t have gone more than 30 to 40 yards. It hit another car too.”

Police Constable Gareth Blaken, of Dorset Police’s traffic unit, said: “The circumstances of the collision are not clear at this time but a 67-year-old woman from the Weymouth area has suffered serious, life-threatening injuries as a result of her car losing control.

“Any witnesses to the collision should contact us as soon as possible.”

Earlier in the morning a 50-year-old man from Poole suffered life-changing injuries in a serious accident on the A35.

It is believed the man was driving towards Bere Regis when his VW Caddy left the road and hit a tree at 6.40am. The A35 was closed between Morden Park Corner and the Bloxworth turn off for three hours.

The driver, whose vehicle burst in to flames, was taken to the trauma unit at Southampton General Hospital by the Lee-on-Solent coastguard helicopter.

He suffered extensive injuries which were described by PC Tim Brehmer as life-changing, including multiple fractures to his lower limbs.

Brave passerby Chris Langdon described how he leapt into action, using the fire extinguisher from his van to put out the blaze.

Mr Langdon said: “I didn’t even think about what I was doing, I just knew I had to put the flames out. I had 15 bottles of water in the van so I poured them all over the engine after the fire was out.”

Witnesses to the Weymouth collision should call Dorset Police on 101, incident number 16:131, or they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.